US signals rethink on bases overseas

The Bush Administration has signalled the most sweeping shift in the US military presence abroad since World War II, telling allies around the globe that it will immediately seek to redeploy troops, ships and aircraft.

The Administration indicated that nations such as Germany, Japan and South Korea, which for decades have hosted hundreds of thousands of US troops, could see a significant decrease in the US military presence as the Pentagon focuses on the "war on terror".

"Beginning today, the United States will intensify our consultations with the Congress and our friends, allies, and partners overseas on our ongoing review of our overseas force posture," President George Bush said in a statement from Crawford, Texas.

"We will ensure that we place the right capabilities in the most appropriate locations to best address the new security environment. High-level US teams will begin consultations in foreign capitals in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere."

State Department and Pentagon negotiators acknowledged that some of the discussions with long-time allies who have hosted US forces for decades will be painful, while gaining new basing rights will be difficult. They added that decisions have been made about how many troops will be moved, where they will come from, or where they will end up.

Japan and South Korea - combined home to about 83,000 US troops - reacted calmly to the announcement, with Tokyo welcoming it and Seoul saying there was nothing new in the plans.

"We see it as desirable that the US military posture, including its forces in Japan, will be reviewed [to] improve peace and stability in the world," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, said.

Mr Fukuda would not comment on whether the realignment of forces would involve the southern island of Okinawa - home to about 30,000 of the 45,000 US troops stationed in Japan. Any move to relieve the burden on Okinawa would be welcomed in Japan.

In South Korea, the presidential office said the review did not mean anything new, with Seoul and Washington already well advanced on the realignment of the 37,000 US troops stationed there.

The US is handing over several security roles to South Korea, and moving its forces out of Seoul and away from the demilitarised zone that divides the two Koreas.

In western Europe, the broad outlines of the new approach call for the US to move away from the large fixed facilities designed to guard against the threat from the Soviet Union that disappeared nearly 15 years ago. The US still has 68,000 troops in Germany.

General James Jones, head of US European Command, has said that 20 per cent of the 499 US premises in his area - everything from tiny outposts to full-blown bases - should be shut down.

The military's new emphasis is likely to be on areas where US forces have increasingly found themselves fighting terrorism - particularly in the Middle East and Central Asia.

In the past couple of years, US bases have been established in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti), in former Soviet republics (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan), and in former eastern bloc states (Bulgaria, Romania).